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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The March for Marriage, the March for Kids

The March for Marriage, the March for Kids | John Burger | CWR

An estimated 10,000 rally and march to the U.S Supreme Court in defense of marriage

WASHINGTON—At the end of a four-hour rally and march to the United States Supreme Court to defend the traditional definition of marriage, Brian Brown brought his wife and eight children up on a stage on the National Mall.

“This is why I do what I do,” he said, pointing to the Browns’ kids.

Indeed, in many ways, the March for Marriage on the National Mall yesterday was more about children than about the institution of marriage, which was the subject of debate up the hill at the Supreme Court.

Speaker after speaker at the first March for Marriage, organized by Brown’s National Organization for Marriage, spoke about the importance of preserving the traditional definition of matrimony for the sake of young people, saying it is how God and nature ordered humanity—and science has confirmed that children need the unique gifts men have in being fathers and women have in being mothers.

“Marriage matters to kids,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. “They deserve a mother and a father, and society needs an institution that connects children to their parents… Marriage is the only institution that does this.”

“Only a man can be a father and a woman can be a mother,” the archbishop continued, “It’s kind of hard to believe that I have to stand here and explain that. It’s like, ‘Is anyone home?’” [Read Abp. Cordileone's entire address.]

Cathy Ruse of the Family Research Council, and the former spokeswoman for pro-life concerns of the U.S. bishops' conference, noted that the same-sex “marriage” debate is “always framed in terms of the rights and desires of adults. But the entire reason the government is involved in marriage policy is the children.”